Water from a burst canal submerged streets late last night and only subsided once a lock gate was opened.
Videos taken in Dace Road in Fish Island, Hackney Wick, showed water rushing down the road after the River Lee Navigation Canal was overwhelmed during heavy rain at around 10pm yesterday (January 4).
In some places water levels rose as high as a couple of feet, submerging the ground floor of shops.
A view of London Centre for Book Arts at around midnight showed cars and bikes left stranded by the flood.
Firefighters at the scene told the Hackney Gazette that a lock had to be opened to “negate” the rise in water levels.
Around 50 people were ultimately evacuated by firefighters.
Once this had taken place, floodwaters subsided. Pictures of the street taken this morning (January 5) showed Dace Road largely clear.
Assessing the damage was Simon Goode, a partner at London Centre for Book Arts, which opened 11 years ago at its site in Fish Island.
He said: “It was so awful. It was coming in from the end of the road.
“The fire brigade said they were waiting for authorisation to open the gate.
“We couldn’t get to the entrance of the shop last night because the water was too high, so we had to wait until the morning.
“We’re still trying to work out the extent of the damage.”
People continued to bail out residual water from London Centre for Book Arts throughout the morning.
The Canal and River Trust, the charity responsible for the canal, said that its teams worked “through the night” alongside emergency services to deal with the situation.
A spokesperson added that the incident shows “the importance of our charity's work maintaining critical waterways infrastructure”.
Firefighters were seen returning to the site of the flood to remove barriers and sandbags placed overnight.
Leytonstone sub-officer Kevin Connor said: “Our main concern was water running backwards into people’s properties.
“These flood barriers are amazing. Such a simple design and they just redirect the water back into the canal.”
Water levels in the canal still appeared high but there is no rain forecast for the coming days.
A Canal and River Trust spokesperson said that they would “continue to monitor water levels as they subside”.
Video credit: Simon Goode.
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